Home Again

I left KC about 8 AM this morning, had a nice drive altho a bit boring, I35, 70 to 75 mph all the way. Drove into a strong headwind most of the day, kinda killed mileage.
I decided I would get gas in Des Moines, just outside of the city, I was in the hammer lane and the car stalled, I headed for the right side of the road to the breakdown lane, must have sloshed some gas to the pickup tube and it came back to life. Whew! I took the next exit, University Ave, I knew there was a station there from the summer trips, made it to the station and filled up with 13.4 gallons! I thought it was a 12 gal tank.
I arrived in St Cloud at 5 PM met Elvis for dinner and was home by 7, feels good.
This weekend we are taking the Deuce Delivery to Rochester area for Minnesota Hot Rod Hardware "last fling" on Saturday and then the Rochester club's fall run on Sunday. Should be a bice weekend and good fun. I think there will be 6 cars going from here.

Sunday

After coffee and visiting in the parkng lot Sunday morning, 7 deuces left to have lunch/breakfast at IHOP. After that it was off to Luckenbach Texas to find "Willie, Waylon and the boys", we found the boys but not Waylon and Willie. Luckenbach is a post office/gift shop with a bar in the back, right outside the bar is a stage for the boys to sing, pick and strum. We had a couple of beers and listened to the music, a great time. From there Charlie and I headed for his place the others headed their own directions. We had a nice drive home, had dinner with two friends in his town. The have a huge victorian house, a beautiful place. They repair and tune pipe organs for a job. Paul also sells old Ford parts. We solved the world problems with them and finally made it home about 10:30. A fun day and a short 280 miles thru the "hills of Texas".

!Monday night

I made it to Kansas City tonight, 560 miles. I stayed off I35 and took highway 69. A much better drive but took longer. I left Charlie's at 8:30 arrived on the north side Kansas City at 8 PM. Lots of 2 lane roads, small towns but so much better than just going 75 on I35!! It was quite warm today, I saw 90 on most of the bank signs, it was down to 70 by the time I got to KC.
I plan to leave about 7 AM and will take I35 for the last day of the drive.
If you want to see some great pictures of the show, go to www.jalopyjournal.com then click on HAMB message board, scroll down to find or use the search button with "deuce reunion" as the keywords. Casey took some great photos and posted there.
I am tired, time for bed. Dale

32 cd Annual Deuce Reunion

A beautiful day, sunny, warm, almost hot in the sun, mid 80's, clear blue sky, 125 deuces.....what a great day. I spent the day in the lot talking to deuce guys, sharing stories, looking at the cars, many really nice cars, no dogs anywhere.

Tonight was the banquet and awards. I won long distance and runner up "best sedan" (missed it by one vote!) Quite an honor, I am very pleased. There was a car from CA that also received a distance award, but his was trailered. I got a really neat homemade trophy, a 32 Texas license plate with a rusty tin roadster bolted to it, a little post with this year's dash plaque on it. It is really cool.I talked to the guy that made it tonight after dinner for quite a while. His son is an asst mgr for Walgreen's in Texas.

I made several new friends. I had a great day. Tomorrow we will head back to Ft Worth to spend the night at Charlies house and then head home Monday AM.

Made it to Kerrville

We left this morning for a short 20 miles drive to a small Texas town of Gainesbury where we had a coffee and met other cars. We left with 9 cars, 7 were Deuces. We took the 2 lane back roads west and south, a beautiful drive.
Had lunch at the famous Texas BarB Que spot called Coopers in Llano. It is a big building with several outdoor cookers, you pick the meat you want from ribs, brisket, pork, sausage, steak, chicken, they cut off a piece the size you want, flop it on a tray, next you take it inside, they weigh it and give you a price, then you add slaw,corn,potatoe salad, what ever you want, they give you a piece of wax paper for a plate, add beans and more BBQ sauce, find a spot to sit, there are many rows of picnic tables. On the tables are jars of peppers, loaves of bread and rolls of paper towels for napkins.............cool place. I told the guys that we had places just like this all over MN!! Awesome tasting food.
We arrived in Kerrville about 3 PM. On the way we drove by "Lady Bird Johnson Park" many beautiful houses and rolling Texas hills. There is not another state that has
" Texas pride" like this state. Texas flags flying, painted on walls, made into iron fences, on most business signs, really a cool state.
There are about 100 Deuces here already tonight, just wait untill Saturday. I have seen so many friends already. Three couples from Colorado that I see each year in CA are here again. Friends from all around Texas, good to see them all again. Many many NICE cars. Tommorow will be fun.Norm (I bought the 42 car from him),Casey,Scotz, Ronnie Smith, Glenn,Paul,all from TX, Jack from AZ...and more,good to see all of them.
More to come Saturday........................Dale

Ft Worth tonight

`I got up this morning, tightened the exhaust bolts, that helped a little. The gasket is gone. I stopped at Advance Auto, picked up 2 new gaskets. While I was there I noticed their tools were all on 65% off sale, they are changing brands. I needed a 3/8 drive swivel for the exhaust bolt so I bought that, a couple of screw drivers and a complete 3/8 drive set in a box, that was only $10, will be good to just leave in the Vicky for the trips. Made in China...but then everything is any way.
I was on the road by 9:15.....540 miles later was at Charlie's house.I arrived at 6:45 PM. He lives west of Ft Worth. It was a good drive, a little boring, straight down I35.
At the last gas stop, north of Ft Worth, a guy was pulling out to leave as I was turning in waved,.... I found out tonight that he will be driving with us in the morning. (He drove his tudor last year with us.) He called Charlie, said " I just saw a red Vicky at the gas station, Charlie says that must be Dale....I can't hide any where!!
I changed the gasket tonight, all better now, I hate that leaky noise!
I packed the back seat with some deuce club stuff that would not fit in Charlie's
3W, so we are set to go in the morning.
We will meet at 8:30 some others and head south to Kerrville. It will be a short and senic 300 miles.
I will post tomorrow when I get to Kerrville. I am tired, ready for bed.

Kansas City

Well I made it to Kansas City, about 2 hours later than planned but I am here. Just after I filled with gas in St Cloud, I noticed the ammeter was pegged at 30 and would not back off. I did some checking, found a loose ground cable, tightened that but did not help. I stopped in Becker, found a little repair shop, had him check the alternator and the battery, all was fine, he said just ignore the gauge. That's hard to do. I left and keep driving,then I discovered the fan oeveride switch was on, the fan was running, I shut it off and the amp gauge returned to 10 like it should. Then in about 30 miles it was back up to 30. The fan was on, would not stop, so I just unhooked the wires! The it went to 10 and stayed there. That whole episode go me behind a about 2 hours.
I called John when I hit KC, got directions to the bar, it was 5 exits before where I am staying...perefect. I drove in to a lot with several hot rods and customs. This is their weekly club meeting night, get together and have dinner and a beer. Saturday they are hosting a "Relibility tun" sort of a shop tour thing with a party at the end. Too bad I will be in Texas.
I developed an exhaust leak, I will check that in the morning, it was too hot tonight and then it go to dark, I am sure it is just a tighten the manifold bolts thing.
I might stop by John's shop in the morning before I leave, he owna an auto repair shop...Audi's only called Volkswerks.
As I drove by the town of Clear Lake, IA, the radio was playing a Buddy Holly song. Buddy died in Clear Lake in a plane crash in 1957.....spooky!
I will be in Ft Worth tomorrow night. Talk to you all then.

Deuces Limited "Deuce Reunion #32"

I will be leaving Wednesday morning about 8 AM for Kansas City, the first day out for the 'Deuce Reunion" in Kerrville, TX. I should be in KC by 5:30 or 6 PM. The weather show sunny and dry the whole way, that will be nice, I would rather not drive in rain even if I am going to be in a closed deuce.
I will blog tomorrow night after I make it there.

Deuces Limited "Deuce Reunion #32"

Home again

After a good nights sleep in Watertown, we headed to the tire shop to have Barry's front tires rotated. They are wearing fast. We discovered the right front was out of round, so he bought a good used one. The toe was off by over one inch, fixed that. Now it drives much better. The new used tire should last to get him home.
Our next stop was Randy Gribble's hot rod shop. We were greeted by Randy and got the 25cent tour. Fun!!
We left about 11 AM for home, just a short 180 miles. We stopped in Clear Lake to get gas at SA and see Dave Vogt . Next stop after a quick lunch was John's Cars to see John Capsner.
We arrived home about 3:30. Just in time to do a few chores from the list and off to the Hot Rod Hoodlums car show at the Copper Lantern. Good to see all the friends. We didn't even wash the cars, covered with bugs and butterflies.
Tomorrow its time to clean the cars, empty the garage and mop the floor, set up the tables and chairs and get ready to party.
My roadster rolled over to 40,000 miles in Deadwood, that made the trip for me 9400 fun filled miles !!
I'm ready to go again.......any takers? Dale

Sunday night

Let's try this again......Wednesday night Corina called and told me that Greg had run 202.536 in the 351 Ford, 34 cpe, "She Bad II". They were so happy. He had been trying to go 200 since I met him in 2004. The car was his late father's Sam. I am very happy for all of them.
Thursday AM we headed north to Driggs Idaho, called Tex Smith, bu no one was home, so on north to Montana and then to West Yellowstolne. We drove thru the park to Cody, WY.
About 50 miles before Sheriden, our planned stop for the night, I discovered a 24 inch 1/4 inch rod stuck in by radiator. It was Barry's hood prop. Some how it came off and stuck in my radiator. It was leaking bad, no make that pouring. I coasted down the mountsain to a small town, motor off, luckily it was a big hill. I filled the radiator again and drove 5 more miles to the next town. There I got some stop leak and stuffed the hole with steel wool, that didn't work. I refilled it again, hit I80 and drove 80 mph 20 miles to Sheridan. Made it! I called a guy in the fellow pages ( a deuce roadster owner), he was with a friend that owns the radiator shop in town. I was there at 7 AM, with the car apart waiting for him, got it repaired and back together by 9:15. We had breakfast and on the rosd by 10:30.
We arrived in Deadwood by 3 PM. Parked at the Tin Lizzie casino, they have a great show there, goodie bags, t shirts, bands. I had dinner with my sister anr brother in law.
Saturday was the same thing, Tin Lizzie, watched people, talked to friends all day.
Tonight we are in Watertown SD

Sunday night

Wednesday n ight I got a call from Corina, Greg did 202,536 in the 34 Ford "She Bad II" coupe, they were so happy. He had been trying to 200 mph since i met him in 2004. The coupe was his late father

Bonneville

We headed to the salt Monday morning, just in time to watch Geo Potet in his 4 cyl, 182 ci Hemi streamliner do 144.00 mph, breaking his old record of 134! The third car off the line was our friend Steve from CT in his a body roadster, (the old Shine/Thacker machine) going 140 and spun. No real harm done. While checking the car out they found a cracked front hub. He called Jimmy Shine at SoCal, he had a pair, then called Steve's brother to go get them and fly his private plane to Wendover with them. The next run he made, the solenoid in the air shifter locked up and tore the drive shaft out. He contacted Empire Drive line, they were making him a new none and were shipping it next day to the hotel.
Our friend Billy O from CT, (the Rolling Bones High Speed division) went 147 on the first run, close to that on the second, the third time out, the motor blew! Chris and Donnie drove to LA, 10 hrs away to pick up a motor from a friend, on the return trip in Vegas lost a fuel pump in the borrowed truck.Nothing but bad luck.
The Bones went 125 in the flattie, Hop up Mag went 120 with a 4 banger. The Maine Baron's in "She Bad 2" were doing the high 180's with no mechanical problems. It was good to see all the guys.
John Capsner from St Cloud found me on the salt, he was coming home from Alaska. He has been sleeping in his truck, so I invited him to shower and sleep on our room floor for the night.
At the HAMB meet and greet, Joe Mapes came to me to reintroduce himself to me, I have not seen him since the 70's, he lives in Tuscon, he knew me in the Wild Turkey Delivery from Albuquerque. So neat to see the old friends.

Barry and I have a new name...we are "those guys". people come up to us and say, are you "those guys?" or oh, you are "those guys"...funny.
Last night we went to the Hop Up mag party, then headed for Salt Lake. Tonight we are in Jackson WY.

At Last!!

I finally got internet service!!!
We drove to Austin NV on Friday for the Alviso Roadster cookout. We had a great time swapping lies and tales with them all.
Saturday morning it was up and out to Winnemucca, a short 150 miles for the open house and cookout at the Flying A Garage. We spent the day there seeing friends and meeting new friends. We talked with old friend Don Ebertson from OR, (a charter member of the Toppers car club from 1957!) By the way Al Duval he is still waiting for his 50th jacket! We hung out there until 6PM, then drove back to Austin (150 miles) for dinner with the Roadsters again. Austin is a town of 187 people and 2 bars. Both bars had outdoor seats and live music on the sidewalk. Of course that is where the rest of the night was spent. Every once in a while someone would start their hot rod up and "blast" up the street. We watched a chopped 5 window with a SBC race a BBC roadster for about 3 blocks, right down main street. The local cop/judge was cheering them on!!
I will send a slide show (hopefully tonight) of some of this.
Sunday morning we all met for a group photo on main at 8AM and then headed out for B'ville.
Barry and I drove with Mark Morton in the Hop Up magazine 56 panel pulling his 4 banger 120 mph race car and John Swander, from KS in his "bones built" 5w coupe. It was a good drive, about 250 miles. The others followed a little later.
We arrived in Wendover about 4 PM, found "eyeball" Tim Ebens, got our room from him and checked in, had dinner and headed to the parking lot to look at all of the hot rods. A lot full of every thing, mostly trad built style. Barry's was the only "Gucci designer" one again. He caused quite a stir with everyone with the crunched front story. People could not believe he drove it and still driving it bent up! Like he said that sort of help him to become accepted into their way,not a trailered show car, but built in that style. We were two of maybe 10 "shiney paint" cars in the lot, out of 200 + hot rods.
More tonight on Bonneville...time to hit the road for Jackson Hole WY.

Home again......for a few days

Made it to Rockford IL Sunday night...400 miles and a couple of antique stores, good thing we drove the "original" Wild Turkey....it holds lots of freight.
Woke up this morning to rain and thunder, we were gone by 8AM, drove out of the rain by Madison, WI, except for a couple of 5 minute showers. We arrived at home by 5PM. All went well. We drove 1800 miles, got 19 to 20 mph, not bad for a 4000 pound, big block 396ci chevy in a "brick" shape as far as areo.

I leave on Aug 14 to fly to Reno for the last of the Top less Tour. I found a room in Bonneville...good news, bad news is that I have to take it for 5 days and I will be there only two nights. Sure beats sleeping on the salt flats like I thought we were going to have to do. Any one want a good deal on a room for 3 nights?? Call me!

Saturday

We sat at the front gates from 7AM to after 10...watching the endless parade of rods drive in. It is a real sight to see. That is the best way to see 1000's of rods, just let them drive by you.
It was another hot day, 102 on the reader board at 3 PM. There was a slight breeze to really help. I spent most of the day in the huge vendor building.
I did not win the give a way car.....bummer...always a chance next year. I would much rather have next years anyway...a 32 Ford all steel 3 window...WOW!

There was 10,711 registered participants.....not bad for the price of gas. Like I always said, you can always cut back on something else...skip the T shirt purchases, drink Busch beer instead of Michelob,eat something less than a big steak each night...not driving you hot rod because of gas price is just a cop out! If you want to drive it, you can find a way. How much more is it really going to cost anyway?

In the morning we are skipping the fairgrounds and heading for a big antique store by Springfield, OH. It is to be 107 here, my feet hurt from all the walking on the grounds and in the building, so this will be a nice change. We have spent 3 big days at the show, so now it is Elvis' time to enjoy something.

Next year is the 40th Street Rod Nationals...we ought to have a whole caravan drive together from Minnesota...its only 850 miles. Forty years is kind of a milestone.
Think about it.

Friday

Nice day today...hot but nice. We arrived at the fairgrounds before 7AM, took our chairs to the front gates and watched the "parade" of cars until about 10 AM. After a quick trip thru a couple of aisles of vendors we headed out back to the pros pick area. Some real nice cars there.A beautiful swoopy green rats glass coupe that had the top cut off to make it a roadster really stuck out, a roadster pickup with a GE refrigerator for a bed was really cool, a knock out red tudor deuce (it won hot rod of the year at Columbus) to name a few.
It was hot today...the reader board said 99 degrees at 3 PM. I spent several hours in the cold AC vendor building checking out the new products and the other stuff for sale.
I bought some parts that Ralph wanted...nothing for me, I think I need a new project!
Larry and I walked for many miles both days, my feet hurt, but it was fun.
I saw number 10300 on a window tag, also saw #1, Liz from Canada, and she won a door prize!
Tomorrow if I am lucky I will win that give away car.
See ya later.........................Dale

Thursday

We woke up this morning to rain....forecast said cleared out by noon. We were at the fairgrounds by 6:45, found a nice grassy spot for three cars by the fence next to the road. Put up the two canopies. The rain stopped by the time we left the hotel. It was cloudy but warm.
We headed for the swap meet to check out the treasures.....found nothing. About 9:30 it started to rain again so we headed to the BIG vendor building. So many vendors, everyone that is anyone comes here to sell.
There were so many friends here it was hard to walk the aisle without seeing someone I knew, not a bad thing!
It cleared off by noon or so to nice clear blue skies, warm but no rain.
We left the canopy frame s at the parking spots but will still be at the fairgrounds by 6:45 in the morning.
There were 8500 preregistered cars, they registered 1,000 more by Wednesday night and more are coming in, it might be off a little but still will be a BIG 4 day show.
Time for bed, gotta be up by 5:00 for breakfast.

Here we are in Louisville!

An easy drive to Louisville, "world's largest hot rod show". We woke up to clouds and some rain, just enough to dirty the car. No big deal. Stopped at another antique store, went to registration, visited with friends from FL MO and WI.
Tonight we met with Paula and Larry from Mass at the hotel. The hotel has free drinks from 5:30 to 7 PM, we were there by 5!! Limit 3 drinks per person, there were several people that gave us their drink tickets so we were set!! What a place.
Visited with Josh and his family from TN, Josh rode with me for a week in the 06 Topless Tour. It was good to see him again.
Tomorrow we meet for breakfast at 6AM and then head for the fairgrounds for the first day.
Nothing else to write about tonight.

Dale

Made it to Indy

Here we are in Indy tonight. All went well. Several stops at Antique stores and still made it 300 miles. The Wild Turkey runs and drives so nice. We did have to get the AC charged...it was ZIP and it was getting warm out. I must have a very slow leak, at least I hope it is slow.
We were at a little antique store, this guy came up to me at the car and was talking about his cars....(anyone want to buy a 51 Ford 4 door custom with a 302 ford for $5,000?)Anyway I say to him, since you live here is there some one who could charge my AC. He gives me this guys name and number, a street rodder no less, I call him, he says bring it in. He evac'd it, charged it and good to go, blowing really cool air now. I asked for the bill and he says go have fun in Louisville, just give me your cell number so I can find you there and use your canopy shade!! What a deal!
I will be sending him something in the mail when we return.
Tomorrow will be a long day.......65 miles to the party at T&T body shop, starts at 5PM. There is a BIG antique store the next exit down from it...we will spend a big part of the day there. I will be looking for 2 friends there, they called Sunday, should be a good time.
Dale

Wild Turkey goes to Louisville

Sunday, July 27th we leave for Louisville, Ky for the Street Rod Nationals....biggest street rod show on earth. We will be driving the 46 Chevy, "The Wild Turkey Delivery", its her time to go.
I clayed and waxed the body, checked all the nuts and bolts, greased and oiled it up, should be ready for a good trip. The last time it was out of the garage for any distance was for the Nats in 06, I took the Deuce Delivery last year.
We are taking our time, doing some antique shopping on the way.
We will meet woith Larry and Paula from Mass when we get there. The first night will be in Rockford, IL at the favorite hotel, the Baymont Inn. We are scheduled to arrive in Louisville Wednesday afternoon.Tuesday night is a party at T&T body shop in Seymour, IN, we got within 5 miles of it last year when Ralph's motor mount broke. This year I hope to make it!
Will write again Sunday from Rockford.

Monday

Well Goodguys Nationals are history, a great show, almost 6000 rods and customs, all very high quality.
Friday morning I put a 180 degree thermostat in the car, that fixed the problem, all day today on the highway it was just under 200. It was nice not to watch the gauge all of the time.
Saturday at the show we were "picked" for the "Smooth and Slick" award.....cool. This is our first Goodguys award. It was a blast to drive thru the awards area in the building on Sunday to pickup our plaque.
Tonight we are in Madison. We will be home tomorrow evening. Ralph and Barb are driving with us. It has been a fun trip, the car has 2200 plus miles on it and still have about 400 to go, we left with 500 miles on it, she got a good shake down run.

Columbus!!

I'm not sure how much I mentioned the heat problem with the car......it runs hot, at least the gauge says it does. We were discussing this in the parking lot while drinking beer last night. At midnight a couple of us decided to pull the thermostat, it was a 195 degree. At 1 AM I decided it was time for bed.
This morning at 6 I got up, filled the radiator with coolant, went to the car wash. At 8:30 we left for Spitzer Customs, the car ran at 190 the whole way, a short trip of 40 miles or so...all is good. The next stop was Brookville Roadsters about 140 miles away, still ran below 200...good. At 2 PM we headed for Columbus, another short 140 miles, the car started running hotter, got up to 230, we made a quick pit stop at a rest area, and set off to finish the trip, the temp went down to 210 and stayed there till the end. Its driving me nuts. It doesn't puke over, doesn't steam, or feel really hot, or tick like a hot engine does. In the morning I am putting a 180 degree thermostat in and see what happens. I wish I had an infra red heat gun with me. I think maybe the gauge is wacky.
Brookville was cool, tons of 3 windows and roadster bodies ready to ship and under construction. Still a 2 yr wait for a 3 window. If I order one now,.......hmmmm.
Tonight we were at the kickoff party at Hdqs hotel, fed us free food and drink, had special parking set up, a good time.

Made it to Indy

We left about 30 minutes late this morning because I had another power steering leak. This time it took me only 45 minutes to fix it, the same thing as it was in Des Moines......a leaking o ring. The first time took us over 2 hours.
About an hour into the trip we lost Dennis and Becky in the 58 chevy to a bad carrier bearing on the drive shaft, they found help and caught up tonight. Also tonight Wes and Vivian Rydell drove in with the 54 chevy, they sent the 40 Caddy home to ND on a flat bed, and brought the 54 down on the same truck...nice to have spare hotrods!
Taylor, a young son of Lonnie from IA had to replace an idler arm and buy 2 new tires, but all better now. This has been a rough trip.
We just came back from a wonderful dinner with 1/2 price marqueritas ( I don't know how to spell that, even if I drank several). Anyway they were GOOD!!
We will leave at 8AM for the next stop, Spitzer Automotive.....makers of fiberglas and carbon fiber bodies
It was about 325 miles today, not bad.
I have my friend Jake in Columbus getting some parts picked up for me for a little repair on Friday, pays to have friends all over, I call the order in, he finds and picks up, we go to his place and do a quick repair. I am still running a little too hot. Will swap out the thermostat, repair leaking gas tank, and hopefully lower the temp of the engine.
It still has been a FUN time!!

http://www.sedaliademocrat.com/news/cars_9927___article.html/chevy_right.html

http://www.sedaliademocrat.com/news/cars_9927___article.html/chevy_right.html

Check the Sedalia, MO newspaper article...we were at the diner having ice cream today, when 30 rods and customs roll into town it really stirs them up.

Deuce Guy drives Buick to Ohio

Sorry about the lack of blogs. The DeMoines trip was GREAT ! About 100 miles into the trip, the carb got a chunk of dirt stuck in the idle circuit, finally we got that cleared out and we charged on to registration. On the fair grounds we discovered a massive power steering leak. A new o ring fixed that, but it took about 2 hours to change.
The weekend was fantastic!! Over 3000 cars, all very high quality, and temps in the low 80's with NO humidity.
Sunday I had the Buick lettered on the rear deck with "Fine Wine" in a real sc'olly font, looks really nice.
Monday we met with the Good guys group to cruise to Columbus. There are 30 rods and customs with 16 repeat entries. Our first stop was Lincoln, NE to the Speedway Museum, a fine fine museum. Speedy Bill gave us a welcoming talk and fed us a very nice BBQ catered lunch, there was also a $100 gift certificate given away. We spent the night in St Joe, MO. We all had a nice dinner at a quaint little Italian place.
This morning it was off to Pete & Jake's in Peculair, MO and then onto Hannibal, MO for the night. We drove in rain for the afternoon, but we all are here.
Wes Rydell was with us in his new 40 Cadillac, Gary Meadors and Marylin in their 40 coupe, Rich Guassco in his 32 high boy 5window from CA,(Rich is the owner of the AMBR 1961 roadster, and drove the fuel altered car named "Pure Hell" in the 60's. ) others from WA, OR, IN, MO, IA, MN, FL, We are all here tonight except the Rydell's. They lost a trans today and had to ship the car home. It was new, left home with 20 miles on the clock. So sad. Oh yes, I got meet Orv Elgie from OR, he had a green 37 Ford sedan delivery on the cover of Rod&Custom in the late 70's, and several other cars later. Really cool to shake his hand. He lives in Bend, OR, not far from "Deuce Daddy Don" that I met last month.
Last night our tour leader broke a valve spring, that was repaired in the parking lot about 11 PM, one reason there was no blog.
We all are having a good time, met more new friends, renewed friendships with some others. These trips are all about the people with the cars, I highly reccommend you all trying this some time. This is our fifth time!
See ya tomorrow. Dale
Tomorrow we are off to Indy to Indy Head Service for a free BBQ and will spend the night in Indianapolis.

Home at last

We picked up the new bearing at Car Quest at 7;30 and headed back to the Flying A to quickly install it....yea right! About 4 hours later we were done. The bearing had a different step to it, so after beating on it for a while, we had to die grind the hub ever so slightly for it to go on. Got it on, no noise, tire stands up right...good to go. We left town at 11AM for the short 170 miles to Reno. As we left town we could see the smoke from the wildfires in CA, as we got closer the worse it got.
The trip was fine, we stopped at Jim's, he took us to Stead airport to bed the roadsters down for their 6 week rest. We will fly back to Reno Aug 14 and head to Austin,NV for the Alviso Roadster Reunion, the next morning we are going back to Winnemucca to the Flying A Garage and to meet with Rod & Custom's Americruise party, then back to Austin for the night to the "reunion" and then onto Wendover, UT for Speedweek at Bonneville.
This concludes the first half of the Top Less Tour......however I continue to travel, I leave July 3, in the new 50 Buick, for Des Moines and then Columbus for the Goodguys show and cruise. Lincoln Speedway motors, Pete & Jakes, Spitzer Auto, Brookville roadster plant to name a few......stay tuned.

Dale aka..... thedeuceguy

Tuesday June 24

A short day today, we made it 200 miles to Winnemmucca, NV. We are "stucka in Winnemucca". Barry's rear axle bearing went south. I found the Flying A Garage, I met them on the Americruise last year, It pays to have friend all over the USA. It is a private garage that works on cars for the upcoming museum, but they let us in and use the lift and even called their in the mechanic back in to help us. Of course no one has the bearing in stock so it will be here in the morning at AM. Slap it in and away we go, 170 miles to Reno. Should be there by 1 PM easy.
Check tonight's slide show for details of the shop, full of famous hot rods, race cars, WOW!
More bad luck that turns into good luck......the wheel did not come off, we found a good shop, made more new friends, still on schedule to get home Thursday night. We got the grand 25 cent tour of the cars, what a cool place. I think we will come back here in August on the way to Bonneville, Americruise is stopping in on Saturday in August, along with several more hot rods, will be fun.

Tuesday June 24

A short day today, 200 miles to Winnemucca, NV.......We are "stucka in Winnemucca". Barry's right rear bearing went south, we were lucky to get here. I found the "Flying A Garage" I met them on the Americruise last year. They were very nice and let us us their lift, called their mechanic back in to help. They are a private garage that works on cars for the soon to be museum, not an open shop.It was very nice that they let us in. We also got the 25 cent tour of the place.........WOW! talk about history of hot rods and race cars! Check the slide show for pics. If any one doesn't get the nightly slide shows, please email me at Thedeuceguy3@aol.com and I will send them to you.
Of course no one in town has the bearing, so it will be here in the morning at 8AM, slap it in and we should be on our way. Reno is now tomorrows destination, 170 miles away, should be there by 1 PM. More bad luck that ended in good luck, did not lose the wheel on the highway, found a great shop, nice place to stay and eat, did not put us behind that much......lots of luck.

Monday June 23

After driving almost 500 miles Monday and going nowhere, we spent the night in Boise, Idaho. We left Baker City, OR and drove switchbacks up and down and around untill about 6 o'clock. We were in Oregon, Washington and Idaho. It was a tiring day but fun. We found us a hotel and a steakhouse and quit for the night.

Sunday

Don's roadster

Sunday

We got up to a very cloudy and cool morning. We headed towards Bend, going over the mountains by Mt Hood was downright chilly. Mt hood is such a pretty sight, looks like a painting. We stopped at a HAMB friend's house and fellow roadster owner in Bend, OR. He has had his roadster forever, a real pretty car, purple with black fenders and a FORD engine. A 260 like I have in the 5 window, except he bought his from Carrol Shelby, showed me the invoice. Cool! I was drooling all over the car, and it is for sale too, (I could always use a full fendered one.)He has over 300,00 miles on it, rebuilt many times, looks like new still.We had a nice visit with Don and his wife, "DeuceDaddyDon" on the HAMB, Don Thomas in real life. He has a great hot rod history, past Pres of the LA Roadsters, drove with Dick Scritchfield, another LA Roadster member,(now living in Hawaii and owns a cool phaeton) showed me several magazine articles, I wish I couls have stayed longer.

From there we headed north east to Bakers City to spend the night, that was about 200 more miles. All went well, had a great day.

Saturday

Today was a much calmer day. We toured the Evergreen Aviation Museum and saw the HUGE Spruce Goose flying boat. That is a awesome museum, very high class. The plane was so neat. There were many many planes there, I'll post some pics tomorrow.
From there we headed north to see Mt St Helens volcano in Washington, we can now check off one more state in the roadster. That was a sight to see. The road we planned on using was closed due to snow, we turned left and took another road that was to take us to a viewing area, after about 10 miles the road kept getting more narrow and finally ended in a snow bank! We had to turn around and come back. We found another road that did give us a great view, check the photos tomorrow night.
Tonight we are in Cascade Locks, OR, just across the border, found a little hotel and a nice place to eat, its time to go to sleep!

Friday

Another view...........................

Friday

Today started off with cool weather, as we headed for the Oregon coast it became sweatshirt and windbreaker time. It was quite foggy, but still a nice drive. We headed north on 101 and then turned east towards our destination, Mc Minville, the home of Howard Hughs "Spruce Goose'.
About 1 PM we were cruising down the 2 lane state 18 highway, when we met a truck with a trailer of firewood, it hit a bump on a bridge and broke the axle off, here came a flying wheel with a stub axle on it bouncing and flying across the road. Barry dived to the right and hit the brakes, I saw a hole to the left across the yellow line and between everything. As I buzzed passed Barry I could hear a thud and glass breaking, a sick scary sound! I drove across the little bridge to a safe spot on the side and parked the roadster. I walked back to check on Barry. He was OK, but the car is hurt. The wheel hit the left side of the grille shell, missing somehow the actual grille bars, took off the headlight, then scrubbed down the hood side at the beltline hitting the windshield post and ripping out the bolt. Somehow it did not break the glass.
The state patrol was called and responded quite quickly. Once there they told us that it was not considered an accident, just exchange insurance and go on. We said WHAT?? They finally went over to see Barry's car and decided that it was over $1500.00 in damage so they would make out a report. They did not even want to go see his car, it was unbelievable!
The cowl has a big dent, the passenger door was pushed into the rear quarter, no headlight, smashed hood, broken latch, crunched shell and now when the electric fan comes on it hits the shroud and sounds like a thrashing machine. Yes it is over $1500.!!
We were lucky, it could have bounced a little and took out the front suspension or hit the windshield and took out Barry. In the morning we will fix the fan and then go see the Goose.
The Topless Tour will go on as planned.............................A scary day in a roadster is better than any day at work!!

Thursday...part 2

I almost forgot, I needed gas out there in the woods, finally found a small station, $5.69/gal....ouch! $60.00 to fill a little deuce tank. I was almost happy to pay it, I had 1 gallon left and the next station was way over 40 miles away. I'm doing my part to help the economy!!

Thursday

We slept in this morning and then drove over to Bob Drakes Ford reproductions.We got the special 24 cent tour. Very interesting. He has three buildings, shipping/receiving, sales, marketing/museum/R&D. Most all of his products are now made overseas, they have one employee that lives in China to oversee the production, then each piece is inspected here before shipping it out.
While there Barry borrowed a jack and checked his front wheel bearing seal, it has been leaking grease. We could not find a replacement so just cleaned it up and put it back in, worked better so far.
After Drakes we headed for Crater Lake, wow, what a place. 2,000 feet deep, 6 miles around, still snow covered and a skim of ice on the water. There was deep snow in all of the ditches, on the roof of one of the buildings, but we were in t shirts. It was a long drive, up and around on switchbacks and then back down and around, we drove about 200 miles and ended up about 80 miles north of where we started!
Tomorrow we will head farther north, taking rte 1 along the coast, should be a cool and a pretty drive.

Wednesday

We woke up to no hot water in the room, boy a cool shower will open your eyes quickly..but the internet connection worked great. It was sweatshirt weather, then by noon as we got close to the shore it was time for a windbreaker too.
My goal was to find the drive thru big redwood tree....well we found two and drove thru both of them. We drove thru very pretty country and really smooth roads, even the construction was smooth. Lots of very windy hilly roads, really cool to drive. We did see one Toyota that crossed the center line one curve and lost her front wheel, fender and smashed the door by a 18 wheeler, that happened just minutes before we got there...oh well it was just a Toyota!
I got to see Paul Bunyon and Babe the blue ox, giant statues about 50 feet tall, I saw them when I was 5 years old, that was over 40 years ago....oh yea, maybe more like 58 years ago, but cool to see....again. (check the newest slide show for pics)
We made it to Grants Pass OR about 5 PM, found a hotel and a local brewery/steak house and had dinner. A great day..............but then they all are if you are in a roadster cruising!
In the morning we will see Bob Drake reproductions and head on north.
I will make another slide show or two and send out tonight.
Steve, I have a hacksaw, I will help make that 39 sedan a roadster this winter, just let me know when.

Tuesday

I could not get on the net last night, $100+ room and no go, tonight a $50 room and works great!
Anyway, we are tonight in a little mountain town in Northern Cali.I forgot the name. This morning we visited Brizios, talked with Roy and Bill Ganahl there. I met Bill last year on the Americruise. A great young man.(Pat Ganahl the hor rod journalist is his father) I counted 11 employees at Brizios and at least 20 projects being worked on. Bill was working on Eric Clapton's latest, a 50 Ford shoebox.
Next door we stopped in to say hi to Donna at Sanderson Headers, always a pleasure. We then drove over to see the Rodders Journal world headquarters, not much going on there, the latest issue was mailed last month and the next just went to the printers last week.
It was a cool morning as we drove over the Golden Gate bridge, then hooked a left up and up and up to the top of the hill, what a view, and then a one lane road down the other side, WOW! We were stopped a a 5 minute red light, really, it is just outside of a one way tunnel,when 2 guys from the car behind us ran up to take a photo. they were from the UK, north of London. I took a pic of them shooting us, they laughed. We have seen so many foreign travelers on this trip, I guess they are trying to help our economy!!
I dont remember what we did Monday except drive and it was COLD. Sweatshirt and a windbreaker over that.
Tomorrow we head for the Redwoods, I am going to find that tree that you can drive thru, I remember it from when I was 5 years old, last time we missed it, not this time!

Sunday

Another great day at the roadster show. Weather was very nice, warm but with a breeze. I saw a few more old friends from all over the country today.
I had Ken Reister and Foose sign a die cast model of the Impression Ridler car that I brought along. I knew they were going to be there. We picked up our mugs at 3 PM and headed north, drove for a couple of hours to get put of the city traffic for the morning. Not much more to report tonight. Tomorrow its San Francisco, Brizios, Sandersons and Napa Valley.

Saturday

We left at 7:30 to head to the Fairplex for the Roadster show, the reason we did this trip. What an awesome show, free entry, free dinner Saturday night, a pewter mug, and they all thank you over and over for coming.
A quite large swap meet, always full of neat parts and cars, not garage sale junk like most are. Several hundred roadsters, and several hundred other rods. Many vendors. This is a FINE show. I saw a 32 sedan delivery for sale for $200,000. I like mine better! A knock your socks off 32 3 window for $150,000 ...wow!
I saw many people that I knew, Gary from Cornhuskers, Norm Jones from Texas, Billy O and Chris from CT to name a few. We had to purchase T shirts, and other trinkets from the show. We walked the swap meet, new vendors and the roadsters, tomorrow I will check out the "other" rods. We also went to the NHRA museum that is located on the fair grounds. It is always different every year. This years HIGHLIGHT was the restored "Ala Kart" the AMBR from 1958 and 1959. I have always wanted to see this car, finally! One more thing I can cross off my "bucket list" That car is down right beautiful!!
We got back to the hotel about 5PM went swiming to cool off and over to Friday's for dinner and a beer.
One more really fine day.

Friday

We drove to Gabe's Interior shop friday morning, he has moved to a new really nice shop. Darrick had him put a couple of snaps on his top while we were there. Next was the Early Ford Store in San Dimas, it is in the historic downtown, amongst neat old buildings, antique shops, cafes, a really "cutsie" old town. The store is jam packed with NOS for parts, he has almost everything. Darrick bought a pair of water pumps for spare for the ride home. That was a really neat place to visit.
After lunch in a little Italian place we headed off to SoCal Speed Sop's open house. We had "special parking" reserved spots inside the gates, made us all feel like "special" people. Thanks Jim Landree from Hot Rod Tours for the help on the parking passes! There were several hundred rods there, up and down the street, many projects inside the shop buildings, book signings by many hot rod heroes. I bought a Gene Winfield book and had him sign it. We visited his place on Tuesday. He will be 81 on Monday. We stayed there until about 6PM and then headed for the hotel and out to eat. If you check www.jalopyjournal.com and go the the HAMB message board, read the threads about socal, you will find several pics of my roadster and Darrick's cabriolet. Cool! An other fine day.

Thursday

We left the hotel this morning about 9AM to visit Marcel Metal Works, just a short 20 miles away. We had a wonderful visit with Dad Marcel and sons Luc and Marc. They both remembered me driving there before, asked if I went East to get there again. We were there for about three hours. They were not busy and wanted to talk and talk. We saw Ron Brown's new roadster that they are working on. There was also a 39 Lincoln that they were putting a metal top on, replacing the old wood and cloth one. The one I liked was a Kugel Muroc full fendered 32 roadster. Boyd's personal 40 Ford convertible was there, no one knows the future on it. The bill is not paid yet and has been there since last fall. Ron Brown drove in with his deuce roadster to check his car, I finally got to meet him.
We walked across the street to see Barry White SRRC. His shop was stuffed with finished cars and projects. Barry was doing a final assembly on a deuce roadster that is to be given to a guy's wife this Saturday for a birthday present, a pretty car. He stopped working and talked with us for about an hour. He recalled fixing my tie rod end in 04. We left there after one and drove towards the hotel, found a cafe to have lunch at, went to Auto Zone for some oil and stuff and back to the hotel.
I am fighting a sinus allergy thing so went to the room to take a nap. The others were going to relax at the pool.
Barry got back here about 4:30, his car all fixed and ready to rock. It was a good but laid back day.
We opted not to go with Landree's tour group when we heard they were leaving a 6:30 and driving 2 hours to the first stop.......we were all to tired to do that!
Hopefully in the morning we will go with Landree and then on to SoCal open house.

Wednesday

We went to Foose's shop this morning, the "tour group" from Mpls had a flight delay so they did not arrive until about 11:30. After a guided tour of his shop we went to Lanzini body shop and then to Scandinavian Street shop. He had 17 Deuces in his shop, that is all he does is Deuces....my kind of place. From there it was off to Boyds and Kugals. Several nice cars in both shops. It was a warm drive in the afternoon traffic. I couold not live here with all the traffic ! We got back to the hotel about 7, adjusted the float on my carb so hopefully it will stop flooding over! Darrick had as couple of little things to fix. Barry took his car to Boyd's to fix the wheel, 4 new tires, and a polish job on the aluminum suspension pieces. He had a few little things to fix also. Tomorrow will be some more shop tours.

Tuesday

Finally got a computer that will work. We went to Bodis Park (Ghost town) 8 miles of ROUGH road, but really neat to see one there. Check Bodie CA park on line, many old buildings just left there, empty since 1940. The trip to Yosomite at 10,000 feet was awesome. Beautiful scenery. Yesterday we went to Gene Winfield's shop...tons of chopped mercs all over the lot. Looked like 1958 time warp. We made it to Ontario last evening, took a swim, washed the dirty cars. This morning we are off to Foose's to meet Jim Landry for lots of shop tours.

See Ya.

Quick update

I forgot to mention the last couple of days, Barry hit a big pot hole and bent his right front wheel real bad, he also thinks it broke the plies in the tire, anyway he can't go over 62 mph......might be the best thing that happened so far. Some of the desolate roads we have been on he would have been driving 85 mph plus all the time. Sort of a automatic speed control!! Tuesday morning he will head to Boyds to see about the wheel/tire and order a replacement.

Sunday

We got up at 7 AM, Darrick had some problems with the fan hitting the shroud,after a little trimming all was well. We had breakfast, "Deuce Special" 2 eggs, 2 panakes, 2 bacon, 2 sausage for $5...sounded like a deal (they didn't have oatmeal). We headed for Las Vegas, we skipped going to the hoover Dam because of time. I dropped Rodney off at MGM, Barry picked John up up at the airport and we all met up at excit 33 on I15, from there we headed on the 2 lane towards the west. We drove thru Death Valley, it was hot and desolate. Darrick popped a fuse on the gauges had to figure that out and fixed it. That was somewhere in the middle of Death Valley, elevation was 214 below sea level. Then the lone haul from sea level to 2000 ft up a LONG incline, Darrick's flatty go a little hot, had to cool her down a couple of times, but we did all make it out alive. Tonight we are in Tonopah, NV. Had a good dinner, found a nice cheap hotel and we all crashed. We will hit it again in the morning at 8 AM. We are going to Bodie State Park a real ghost town, google Bodie, CA and you will find some awesome photos of the town, looks as if they left yesterday, but it has been empty for 50 years. Talk to you all tomorrow night.

Saturday

We woke up to heavy clouds and quite cool, really cloudy and rain predicted to the north of us, just where we were going. After a short discussion, we decided to skip going back to the Rat Fink reunion and head south to stay dry. It was a very cool drive, sweatshirt and windbreakers.we drove thru Bryce Canyon and Zion National parks, very pretty drive. South to St George, by then it was hot. At lunch we spotted a windshield repair tent across the street, I checked him out, $20 later both windshield chips are all but gone! I changed into shorts while he was fixing the chips and off we go towards nightly stop in Mesquite, NV, just inside the border and 75 miles northeast of Vegas. It was hot there. We found rooms and also reserved one for Darrick and Terry. They arrived about 9:30 after driving 980 miles.....they were tired. They had dinner $4.99 prime rib , Rodney and I had dessert and we headed for bed. The hotel was priced right but wantged $10 more for internet, hey got to save somewhere, I did not pay it.

Friday

We drove 300 miles today thru Bryce Canyon Park. We took all back 2 lane roads. Arrived in Salina, Utah at 5PM found a room had dinner then drove 30 miles to Manti to the Rat Fink Reunion. We will go back there in the morning. Lots and lots of windy roads, not a day to make time but great sight seeing.
Heard from Darrick, the generator went south last night in Sioux Falls, they spent all day fixing it, they called at 5 their time, its fixed and they are rolling. Still hope to see them in Vegas this weekend.
Not much elase new today, we all got wind/sun burned. I look like a racoon with a red nose ! Like I have aid before........"a bad day in a roadster is better than any day at work"

Thursday

We woke up to a windy cool morning. Bundled up and headed down the road to the Grand Canyon. A beautiful drive. Drove from 5000 feet to 9000 feet. it had snowed yesterday so was a pretty sight. While at the canyon we met tourits from France, Italy, Holland, Netherlands, England and Germany, no Americans ! They all wanted to know about the cars and took photos. I am sure they will go back home and tell their friends about the "crazy old guys" in the hot rods!! Tonight we are in Knab Utah. Yesterday we drove 300 miles today only 175 miles but lots of sight seeing. Tomorrow its Bryce Canyon and on towards the Rat Fink reunion in Manti UT.

Wednesday

We had no wiFi,cell service or dish tv last night, so this post is a little late. We left Cortez Co in the morning in the cool..had sweatshirts and wind breakers on. We stopped for a mid morning breakfast and met 25 bikers from France. They had a ball checking out the cars and asking questions, taking lots of photos. By noon it was warm and we were in t shirts again.
We drove thru Monument Valley, down the dirt/gravel 5 mph switchback road. We placed our "Goodguys Rod & Custom" decal on the sign at the top of the decent. While driving thru a construction zone with fresh gravel I caught 2 rocks to the windshield, I now have 2 nice nickle size chips there! We drove onto AZ, about 5PM we stopped for a quick break and to check the clouds boiling above us and to put on the windbreakers again. In about 5 minutes all hell broke loose, wind, blowing sand/gravel, we took cover temporarily under the gas station canopy. We checked inside, they had 2 rooms left! We quickly took them. The wind just kept getting worse. We found shelter for the cars in a shed used by a river boat excursion company. We headed to the local bar/cafe for some beers and dinner.While walking and running to the cafe, we were pelted by stinging sand and gravel blown on us. We watched 3 SUV's loose their back glass...., blown in. Two portapottys blew over and went scooting across the highway.......empty thankfully. Shingles were blowing off the roofs....we just set there and drank beer and watched the action. Finally at 8PM, 3 hours later, the wind and gravel stopped. It was totally calm, clear skies, untill about midnight, then more wind, rain and noise. What a night!

Part 2 for Tuesday

Oh yea, in case you all want to know, the highest gas price has been 4.28. They have 85 octane for a little less but have not tried that yet. You may want to check out www.streetrodding.com, some good photos of Goodguys in CO there, one pretty blue deuce for sure!! Ha Ha
To off set the gas price we found a great little motel tonight for $45.!! Gotta cutback some where.
It even comes with a coffee pot, fridge, micro....cool!It;s 11 o'c;lock, I'm tried, time to crash.

Tuesday

We drove to Montrose to visit old friend Joe, big surprise for him! From there we went to the Gateway Museum, such a Classy museum. All the cars were 100 point restorations, nothing shabby at all. The 3 million dollar f88 Olds was a sight to see! The scenery today was outstanding as well as the road conditions. We drove into Telluride, Co and then onto Cortez, arriving about 8PM. About 400 miles, visits and a museum tour...a good day. In the morning we will head towards the north rim of the Grand Canyon going thru Monument Valley on the way.

Monday

We had a great breakfast with John and then it was off to the Denver Deuce factory. That ended up being a 3 hour photo shoot of our roadsters with the Denver skyline as a backdrop.....fun. It was on the top floor of a parking ramp next doot to the old Tivoli Brewery. They want to use our finnished cars in some of their advertising and signs or what ever. The shop is a very nice place, bigger and better than the old Rod Bod shop.
We drove west from Denver thru the mountains and stopped tonight in Salida, CO. A beautiful drive up, over the mountains and next to the river the last several miles, very senic. It was a gorgeous day, high 80's and sunny, no clouds, lotys of sun screen, but my face still got burned, I think wind burned mostly.
In the morning we will stop to see old friend Joe in Montrose, CO and then onto Gateway Auto Museum. I have not seen or heard from Joe since he was in our wedding 43 years ago, he does not know we are coming...this could be fun!!

talk to you tomorrow...................Dale

Sunday

We spent the day untill about 2 PM at the show. Another beautiful day, clear blue sky, about 85 degrees. Picked up Rodney at the airport and found a hotel in south Denver. In the morning we will have breakfast with John Stranges, a retired Walgreen colleague from old days in CT. Plans then call for a trip to Streamline Speed Shop to see the new "Denver Deuce" metal roadster factory. (the old RodBod Co sold out to Deuce America Co) then over the mtns we go.
An exciting change in plans for this weekend, we are going to the Rat Fink Reunion at Trixie's place in Manti, UT, that should be a BLAST!!

later.....................Dale

Saturday

Spent the day at the show, lots of nice cars, close to 2000, lots of warm sun. Nothing special happened but a good day.
Thursday we went to Pinkees open house/kick off party. A really awesome shop. Huge, spotless, many projects. They served free beer and food..........a good time.
We will go back to the fairgrounds in the morning, leave about 1 PM to go to airport to pick up Rodney.

Friday night

We woke up Thursday morning to more rainy mist and heavy clouds. Went to my sister's and put the new accelerator pump in the carb, the old one had just come apart and jammed the rod. Easy fix and a quick one too. By the time we hit Sidney, NE about 70 miles the sun had come out, we stopped at a car wash and cleaned the muddy cars. Stopped in Sterling CO for lunch ran into 3 cars of friends from Chicago area at the restaurant. Took the tops off after lunch and came on in "topless" FINALLY!
Today we went to the show, checked out the cars, vendors, etc, nice grounds, new buildings, nice grass. Saw several friends from all over, AZ, CO,IL ,met some new ones from NE, IA,.... good day.
Saturday will be the same deal. Rodney flies in Sunday PM. Then Monday its off to see the sites.

Wednesday

Woke up this morning to more clouds and rain. I checked the radio fuse and was good, but won't light up, lucky for me the battery is 6 inches from the radio, so I ran a jumper wire direct to the battery....I got tunes!! I will trace the broken wire when I get home this fall.
We made it to Dale Boesch Hot Rods in Humphree, NE. What a cool shop, 5 guys working, 6 projects there that are real trick. Across the street he has 4 other cars under construction. We spent about 2 hours there listening to him tell us about all the changes he has done to each car. Like chopping a 55 chevy 3/4 inch, laying the front and back glass down to use stock size. He had a 33 Ford, 55 chev, 36 Ford, malibu, Mustang and a completely hand built steel roadster in the works.
We got to hometown at 4:30, went to Sister's place for a steak BBQ dinner (Free food begins). In the morning we will wash the cars, fix my carb and head for Loveland, CO.
Another great day altho a bit cool! About 400 miles today. Short 250 miles tomorrow.
See ya................................

Day 1

We made it to Fremont NE tonite. It was a COLD day. I stopped in Montecello and put on a windbreaker over my Hoodlums sweat shirt, that helped alot. I got the electric blanket out in the cities, that helped even more. 60 miles before Des Moines it started to rain. If you drive fast enough you will stay pretty dry!I met barry In Des Moines at 12:30, pretty much on time. If it was not for the heavy traffic by Rogers to Hwy 55 I would have been on time. It took 3 hours to get to Lakeville....98 miles! I put the top on....turned into a "woosie boy", but a dry one.
As we left Des Moines to head west, I had no throttle, the pedal was jammed. After messing with the carb linkage we figured out the accerlator pump was jammed, I disconnected the lever to the pump and drove on....works every bit as good! Stopped at a NAPA, no acelerator pumps any where. I finally called hometown of Alliance, NE had NAPA order one from Denver, will be in tomorrow, I will put it in tomorrow night or maybe not, might just carry it along. It runs fine with out it!
It is still raining out now, should be clear in the morning, I hope so. It was a fun day.all roadster days are FUN! We will stop at Dale Boesch Hot Rods in the morning to check out his new projects and then onto Alliance for the night.
The radio stopped first thing this morning, I need to check that out, I am tired of hearing me sing, I miss my sirrus tunes.
Thats about all for tonight, talk to you all tomorrow. Dale

Topless tour 2008 coming soon

The Topless Tour 2008 edition will begin in 33 days. The roadster is all ready to go, greased, oil change, trunk packed with tools and spare parts and best of all I just finished the new cowl vent addition, tired of warm feet.
I will be meeting Barry in Des Moines on the 27th of May, from there we plan to visit Dale Boesch Hot Rods in Humphrey NE and onto my hometown of Alliance for the night. Thursday we head for Loveland CO for the kickoff party of the GoodGuys Colorado show. We will spend the weekend at the show, Sunday PM Rodney flies into Denver to ride with me for a week. After a visit with John Stranges, an old friend from Walgreens in CT now living in Denver we will head over the mountains. Gateway auto museum by Grand Junction, Montrose, CO and Cortez to see more old friends. From there we will drive thru Monument Valley, Grand Canyon, into Las Vegas. This year we are really taking our time and seeing the sites and traveling 2 lanes as much as possible.
I will write more as the countdown continues and then of course when we are traveling I will post nightly updates. I can hardle wait!!